动物园饲养的极度濒临灭绝的蜗牛被放归到一个偏远的大西洋岛屿上（非常缓慢地）漫步

这次释放使两种沙漠岛蜗牛重新回到野外。在此之前，人们认为它们已经灭绝

More than 1,300 critically endangered snails, bred in a zoo, have been released into the wild on a remote Atlantic island.

动物园饲养的 1,300 多只极度濒临灭绝的蜗牛已被释放到大西洋一个偏远岛屿的野外。

The release marks the return of two species of Desertas Island land snails to their natural habitat, after they were feared to be extinct for a century.

此次释放标志着沙漠岛蜗牛的两种物种在人们担心灭绝一个世纪之后重返自然栖息地。

A small population of the snails was discovered surviving on rocky cliffs on Deserta Grande island, near Madeira, prompting a rescue effort by conservationists.

在马德拉群岛附近的大沙漠岛的岩石悬崖上发现了一小群幸存的蜗牛，促使自然资源保护者展开救援工作。

The snails were taken to zoos in the UK and France, including Chester Zoo, where they were housed in a converted shipping container.

这些蜗牛被带到英国和法国的动物园，包括切斯特动物园，它们被安置在一个改装的集装箱里。

The tiny molluscs are native to the windswept, mountainous island of Deserta Grande, south-east of Madeira, where habitat destruction by rats, mice and goats, introduced by humans, had led to the snails being feared extinct.

这种微小的软体动物原产于马德拉岛东南部多山的沙漠岛，由于人类引入的老鼠和山羊破坏了那里的栖息地，人们担心这种蜗牛已经灭绝。

But conservation expeditions between 2012 and 2017 found otherwise, discovering just 200 surviving snails on the island.

但 2012 年至 2017 年间的保护探险却发现并非如此，岛上仅发现了 200 只幸存的蜗牛。

Believed to be the last of their kind, the snails were collected and brought into captivity.

这些蜗牛被认为是最后一批蜗牛，因此被收集起来并圈养起来。

At Chester Zoo, 60 of the precious snails were cared for by the conservation science team, who recreated the right food, vegetation and conditions for them in miniature habitat tanks.

在切斯特动物园，保护科学团队照顾了 60 只珍贵的蜗牛，他们在微型栖息地水箱中为它们重新创造了合适的食物、植被和条件。

Now, 1,329 snail offspring, bred at the zoo, have been marked with identification dots - using non-toxic pens and nail varnish - and transported back to the wild for release.

现在，动物园饲养的 1,329 只蜗牛后代已被用无毒笔和指甲油标记上识别点，然后运回野外放生。

"This is a colour code," said Dinarte Teixeira, a conservation biologist at Madeira's Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests.

“这是一个颜色代码，”马德拉自然保护和森林研究所的保护生物学家迪纳尔特·特谢拉说。

"It will allow us to spot them and track where they disperse to, how much they grow, how many survive and how well they adapt to their new environment."

“这将使我们能够发现它们并追踪它们分散到哪里、它们生长了多少、有多少存活下来以及它们对新环境的适应程度。”

A wild refuge has been restored for the snails on Bugio, a smaller neighbouring island in the Ilhas Desertas (Desert Islands) archipelago.

布吉奥 (Bugio) 是伊利亚斯沙漠群岛 (Ilhas Desertas) 的一个较小的邻近岛屿，现已为蜗牛恢复了野生避难所。

Bugio is a nature reserve and invasive species have been eradicated there.

布吉奥是一个自然保护区，入侵物种已在那里被消灭。

Gerardo Garcia from Chester Zoo said the reintroduction was "a major step in a species recovery plan".

切斯特动物园的杰拉尔多·加西亚表示，重新引入是“物种恢复计划的重要一步”。

"If it goes as well as we hope, more snails will follow them next spring. It's a huge team effort which shows that it is possible to turn things around for highly threatened species.

“如果进展如我们希望的那样，明年春天会有更多的蜗牛跟随它们。这是一个巨大的团队努力，表明有可能扭转高度濒危物种的局面。

"These snails are such an important part of the natural habitat [on the islands they come from]," explained Heather Prince from Chester Zoo.

“这些蜗牛是自然栖息地（它们来自的岛屿上）的重要组成部分，”切斯特动物园的希瑟·普林斯解释道。

As well as being food for other native species, she explained, snails break down organic matter and bring nutrients to the soil.

她解释说，蜗牛不仅是其他本土物种的食物，还能分解有机物，为土壤带来养分。

"They help plants grow. All of that is dependent on the little guys - the insects and the snails that so often get overlooked."

“它们帮助植物生长。所有这一切都依赖于这些小家伙——昆虫和蜗牛，而它们经常被忽视。”